CutterCast: Selecting and Monitoring External Managers

Gina McCafferty has 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. She served at Cutter from 1999 to 2011 as Principal and Managing Director of CutterResearch, and she was instrumental in growing that business. Gina returned to Cutter in 2017, and established and ran the company’s Wealth Management research division. In 2019, she was appointed to Head of Research, responsible for Asset Management and Wealth Management product development and delivery to over 200 member firms around the globe. Gina was previously at Investit Ltd., where she served for six years as head of the company’s research service. Prior to that, she held senior positions at DST International with product responsibility for their global accounting and performance measurement systems, and at SunGard as Vice President of Client Services for their securities trading products.

Shankar Subramanian has over 25 years of industry experience in investment management and technology solutions. Shankar has a deep understanding of investment data management, portfolio management, risk management, investment accounting, and alternative investments. At Cutter Associates, he heads the Risk and Compliance practice, helping client with investment risk management, and asset allocation, as well as providing support for compliance with consulting on trading forensics, communication surveillance, regulatory reporting, and guideline compliance. He advises on, and designs, operating models, selects systems, and implements business and technology solutions. He also leads development of Cutter’s alternative investments practices and the firm’s efforts to provide thought leadership and strategic and tactical advice to asset owner clients.

Prior to joining Cutter, Shankar held senior roles at IBM Global Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), advising clients and leading global delivery teams in large engagements. Shankar holds a Bachelor of Science in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and an MBA in finance and information systems from the Indian Institute of Management.

Wil Hiles is a Public Equity Investment Officer within the Investment Division at the Oregon State Treasury (OST). The Investment Division manages, on behalf of Oregonians, a portfolio of $100 billion, including the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (OPERF) at approximately $75 billion. At OST, Wil supports the Public Equity team’s day-to-day activities by conducting due diligence on existing and prospective investments, market research, manager searches, and other ad hoc analyses. Wil serves as a key contact for external investment managers, the custodian bank, and other third-party service providers. In addition, Wil is a portfolio manager and trader on OPERF’s internally-managed portfolios. Prior to joining OST in 2016, Wil worked with other institutional clients at RVK, an investment consulting firm headquartered in Portland, OR. Wil received a bachelor’s in Finance from Linfield College and a Masters in Finance from Pacific University.

Jared Stout is the Senior Risk Manager for the Texas Permanent School Fund. Prior to being the Senior Risk Manager, Jared served in various roles from Investment Analyst I to Managing Director on the Global Public Equity team for the Fund. Before entering the public sector, Jared was the Due Diligence Analyst and an Investment Consultant for Kestra Financial (formerly NFP). Jared received an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business. He also received a BBA in Finance from Texas State University, McCoy College of Business Administration with Cum Laude Honors.

Lee Trenum is the Director, Manager Research. He leads the investment manager research effort, conducting meetings and manager evaluation in support of the Vantagepoint Funds. Mr. Trenum has 22 years of experience in the investment industry.

Prior to joining the firm in 1999, Mr. Trenum worked as a financial representative at Pace Financial Network and, prior to that, at New York Life. His experience includes client relationship management, sales and marketing, and business development.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from George Mason University. He has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst^® (CFA) designation and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation. He is a member of the CFA Society of Washington, D.C.